Behind the scenes at Frog Bikes, on the factory’s 5th Birthday!

Yesterday Frog Bikes celebrated 5 years since opening its new factory in South Wales. The 120,000 sq ft site in Pontypool is home to the award-winning manufacturing facility of premium, lightweight kids’ bikes.

The state-of-the-art factory, which opened its doors in 2016 with funding from HSBC and the support of the Welsh Government, received ISO9001 accreditation (the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements), and ISO14001 accreditation (the standard that specifies requirements for an effective environmental management system), within three months of its opening.

Over the years the factory, which assembles the ergonomic range of child-specific bikes, has streamlined the bike building process of over 120 different components, including the threading of spokes into wheel hubs, truing the wheels, adding brakes, gears, cables, handlebars and saddles. The factory now produces around 300 kids’ bikes per day and dispatches them to over 1800 independent bike stores located in over 50 countries across the globe.

AWARD-WINNING FACTORY

The factory itself has been recognised for its achievements and has won two awards for the high-class operation:

• 2017 - Insider Magazine - Made in Wales, Best Factory Award

• 2018 - Insider Magazine - Made in the UK, Best Factory Award

Rob Mason, General Manager at Frog Bikes Manufacturing commented “It’s been a challenge to get the factory established and operating as effectively as it does today. But, teamwork has been the single most vital ingredient and it is thanks to the whole team that we have an operation to be extremely proud of.”

SAFTEY TESTING

The rigorous product safety testing and final checks are also carried out on the bikes at the factory, these ensure that all Frog Bikes comply with relevant safety standards such as ISO, EN and CFR. And, we go the extra mile by testing our frames beyond the required minimum standard.

Lea, Caddick, Quality Manager at Frog Bikes commented “Whilst our focus is the design and assembly of children’s bicycles, we test many of the components, especially the forks & frames, to adult specifications. This gives the rider added confidence, and in doing so we’re able to offer an extended 5-year warranty to such componentry.”

In-house bicycle frame and fork testing facility

As safety testing is an integral part of Frog’s manufacturing and innovation process we have plans to create a bicycle frame and fork testing facility within our factory in Wales, to be fully functional by Autumn 2021. This facility would allow us to rapidly safety-test prototypes, providing us with more flexibility to implement innovation more quickly and effectively whilst significantly reducing our carbon footprint.

SUSTAINABLE THINKING

As a brand that cares about protecting the planet, Frog continually works to integrate sustainability into each aspect of the business.

The factory has been optimised to minimise its energy usage, using low voltage lighting, electricity from renewable sources and bikes boxed in low carbon packaging - which is currently made from 82% recycled paper and are 100% recyclable. We also recycle all cardboard, plastic and metals that we can’t reuse on-site.

By keeping design and manufacturing locally enables us to be more responsive to the market, lower our carbon footprint and provide over 50 jobs to benefit the local economy.

Take a look at how our premium bikes are made in the factory: